Churchill posts non-district win over Judson

By Lorne Chan :
December 11, 2012
: Updated: December 12, 2012 1:39am

Churchill's Brian Herring (42) grabs a rebound against a gropu of Judson players including David Wacker (33) during their non-district game at Judson on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Churchill defeated Judson, 57-54.

Facing No. 2 Judson and 6-foot-9 forward David Wacker on Tuesday, Churchill didn't have much of a chance at the jump ball.

The first 10 players listed on the Chargers' roster — including all five starters — are guards.

They might not have the size, but the No. 3 Chargers keep winning. They avoided a Judson comeback to beat the Rockets 57-54 at Judson High School and improve to 17-1.

Trailing by 12 with just under five minutes left, the Rockets (12-3) rallied with a full-court press and cut the lead to 53-52 with 15 seconds remaining. Taylor Sutlive hit four free throws to close out the game.

“I'm a bit surprised that we started with a record like this,” said Sutlive, who finished with 15 points. “It's definitely different with all guards, but we're all working well together.”

Churchill has had a big man on the Express-News Super Team three of the past five seasons, going from 7-footer Ian Markolf (currently playing at UIW) to 6-8 Clark Lammert (Texas Tech) and his brother, 6-9 Connor Lammert (Texas).

With five starting guards and no player in the rotation taller than 6-4 this season, Churchill has moved its game outside and sank eight 3-pointers Tuesday. The Chargers often ran their offense with all five players around the perimeter, forcing Judson's big men to go outside and guard them.

Sam Burmeister hit two key 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter and finished with 14. Ben Mammel led all scorers with 17.

“Everybody thinks it's hard for us to guard big men,” Mammel said, “but the thing is that it's just as hard for them to try to guard us because they're not used to it.”

The Chargers played man-to-man defense against Judson, compensating for the size difference by often switching off and pestering the Rockets with their high energy.

Wacker, who is averaging 12.1 points per game, had 10 but was scoreless in the fourth quarter.